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ricciardo angry at vcarb: i expected apology from team

Ricciardo left angry at VCARB: 'I expected apology'

22 July at 22:00
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  • Ludo van Denderen

Just as it is a crucial time for Sergio Perez - will he be allowed to stay at Red Bull after the summer break? - it certainly is for Daniel Ricciardo too. Because if Perez is sent packing, Daniel Ricciardo is a contender to succeed him. One small condition: Then the Australian would have to get good results himself with his Visa Cash App RB car. In Hungary, the driver had the prospect of that until his VCARB team made what he saw as strange tactical choices.

Ricciardo was anything but happy. Once in the familiar media zone, irritation at the outcome of the Hungarian Grand Prix could be read off his face. Disappointed? "Massively," said the Australian, who started the race on a new set of mediums, assuming he could go on longer than those around him with softs. "Why they pitted me when they did at the beginning was… We followed the soft cars in."

"They've just come in, we have a clear track and we decide to pit behind them and put ourselves in a DRS train. I've had a lot of races that were frustrating and this one is really one of them. We had the pace, and we basically gave the race to Yuki [Tsunoda], who was driving in front of us."

Ricciardo wanted to hear a 'sorry' from VCARB

Ricciardo's irritation only intensified as no 'sorry' followed from his team. "Honestly, I was expecting more. On the in-lap, I was waiting for a 'sorry, we f***** up' and I didn't get it. So that made me even more angry," Ricciardo told GPblog and others. "Unless I'm missing something, I really don't think I am. I guess I'll hear all about it."

While Ricciardo finished 12th, Tsunoda finished in the points in 9th. So right at the time when Ricciardo needs to prove himself; not just against Perez, but certainly with an eye on a contract extension with VCARB. "Yeah, definitely. Then like Stroll's catching me a second a lap and maybe more. And they're saying it's really important to keep him behind. And what do you want me to do? You've pitted me so early. I'm on all the tyres. I'm also being expected to fight when we're not really in a fight anymore. So that was also frustrating. There were times when I just felt like the bed was made. And so, yeah, frustrated."